['Injury and Illness Recordkeeping', 'Accident Investigation - OSHA']
['Injury and Illness Recording Criteria', 'OSHA Recordkeeping', 'Accident Investigation - OSHA']
12/11/2023
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Employee use of drugs can affect how an injury is recorded, but does not necessarily mean that an injury is no longer recordable. An injury or illness that falls under one of the exceptions at 1904.5(b)(2) is not work-related, and therefore is not recordable. The exceptions include, under (b)(2)(vi), “The injury or illness is solely the result of personal grooming, self medication for a non-work-related condition, or is intentionally self-inflicted.”
Use of recreational or illegal drugs falls under the “self-medication” exception. For example, if an employee suffers an overdose from using an illegal drug, the overdose is not considered to be work-related. The relationship to the injury must be considered to determine if the injury was “solely” the result of drug use. In the overdose example, the injury is “solely” the result of the drug use. For an accident, you may need to show that the injury would not have happened if not for the employee drug use. If the employee was not under the influence at the time of the injury, the exception would not apply, and the case would be recordable.
Because you discovered the drug use after the accident, the following question from Chapter 5 of CPL 2-0.131, Recordkeeping Policies and Procedures Manual, might be of interest.
QUESTION: If an employee who sustains a work-related injury requiring days away from work is terminated for drug use based on the results of a post-accident drug test, how is the case recorded? May the employer stop the day count upon termination of the employee for drug use under section 1904.7(b)(3)(vii)?
ANSWER: Under section 1904.7(b)(3)(vii), the employer may stop counting days away from work if the employee leaves the company for some reason unrelated to the injury or illness, such as retirement or a plant closing. However, when the employer conducts a drug test based on an accident resulting in an injury at work and subsequently terminates the injured employee, the termination is related to the injury. Therefore, the employer must estimate the number of days that the employee would have been away from work due to the injury and enter that number on the 300 Log.
This answer verifies that employee drug use does not automatically negate recordability, and provides some guidance on what OSHA considers “unrelated to the injury” for purposes of counting lost days.
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['Injury and Illness Recordkeeping', 'Accident Investigation - OSHA']
['Injury and Illness Recording Criteria', 'OSHA Recordkeeping', 'Accident Investigation - OSHA']
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